UK Chancellor George Osborne has done it again – last week he championed yet another austerity-driven Budget, despite missing nearly every economic target he has set.

It will come as no surprise to anyone that I do not agree with Osborne’s way of doing things. I support investment in our industries to encourage economic growth, not brutally cutting the services and welfare keeping our most vulnerable citizens afloat.

However, George Osborne has instead pursued an austerity project and established the Office of Budget Responsibility with the purported aim of meeting economic targets. Many, including myself, would argue that these targets are fairly arbitrary considering the rates of foodbank usage and child poverty we have to contend with – but they are his targets, which he has set for himself.

He has missed every single one of the major target he has set himself - in any other job he would have been sacked by now.

After failing to eliminate the deficit by the end of the last Parliament, the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) have downgraded their forecasts for economic growth over the next four years.

The Chancellor’s austerity project has failed, and yet because of how ideologically driven he is, he plans to cut a further £3.5 billion this year alone.

I disagree with the ideology that says we need to shrink the state to the bear bones. That said, I recognise it is a view held by many politicians. However, even those who wish to scale back the role the state plays are utterly aghast at the Chancellor's assault on the disabled of this country.

The Chancellor is even facing a backlash from his own Tory MPs because of their indefensible plans to cut £4.4 billion from Personal Independence Payments (PIP) for disabled people over the next parliament.

The Tories are cutting tens of billions more than is necessary to balance the budget - and they are using this cut to PIP as a way to fund tax cuts for top earners, through the cut to Capital Gains and increasing the 40p income tax threshold.

Scotland faces a £1 billion real-terms reduction to our block grant as a result of this Budget, meaning the people of Scotland will feel the impact even after the Scottish Parliament takes over the powers granted by the Scotland Bill. More than 40,000 disabled people here in Scotland will have their incomes slashed by the cuts to PIP.

The Scottish Government will continue to govern progressively, using all the powers we have to protect our most vulnerable people from the effects of Tory austerity

At Westminster our MPs will continue to lead other parties in putting pressure on the UK government to reverse their discriminatory policies. In a victory for Glasgow Central MP Alison Thewliss, who has campaigned tirelessly on the issue for months, the UK government reached a deal last week which will see the Tampon Tax scrapped.

The SNP group at Westminster were also instrumental in the backlash which led the Tories to u-turn on cuts to Tax Credits last year. Hopefully, with similar pressure from across the chamber, including the entire SNP group and even some Tory MPs, we can force the Chancellor to reverse his cuts to the disabled in our communities.